Win boosts Kershaw Premier title hopes once more for Linton Granta

Lee Miller asked for a winning reaction, and a winning reaction he got, with Linton Granta recording a 3-1 home victory over Eaton Socon on Saturday.

The Kershaw Premier side’s title ambitions have been at risk of fading away, with back-to-back league defeats for the first time this season leaving their visit from Eaton as a must-win fixture.

Manager Miller admitted to his disappointment at handing control to new leaders Great Shelford and second-placed Cambridge University Press, but he is now looking ahead to ‘what Linton can do’ to secure the championship.

On Saturday they are at 12th-placed Brampton (3pm), a side they beat 2-0 in the reverse fixture.

“It’s encouraging to get back to winning ways,” Miller said. “But we need to win again on Saturday, there’s no question about that, or our title challenge is over.

“Our last performance was superb though – we were on a different level really – and it’s great to build some momentum again.

“The way the team reacted to the win said a lot, they were so happy, and that’s a great thing to see as a manager because you can’t create that drive and motivation, it has to come from them,” Miller added. “So we’re looking forward to pushing on.”

He said Linton had found themselves a goal down on Saturday, for the 14th match this season – from their 24 league outings – in a pattern they had been unable to alter.

“It’s not great to go a goal down obviously, but we’re sort of used to it now,” Miller said. “It means we don’t panic and force it, we were down for nearly an hour despite doing all the right things. But we stayed patient and it turned around.

“It was a really positive performance actually, we kept the tempo high and created an unbelievable amount of chances, which is probably the only negative, that we didn’t score more than three goals.

“And that’s frustrating because we are behind Shelford on goal difference, as well as points.”

He said Linton’s top scorer Simon Greathead had a ‘bad day at the office’ with a missed penalty and clear cut chance going begging, but the ‘fantastic’ brace of returning striker Callum Harrison, with Chris McNicholas adding the extra, brought its own excitement.

“It was like watching Callum of last year, before he broke his leg,” he said. “He was fantastic and it was nice to see someone else – other than Andy and Simon – rise to the challenge.”